Sailiya, coached by Tunisian Sami Trabelsi, will perhaps be the most lucky side in terms of position in the standings. They stayed fourth despite going winless for five consecutive matches.
Trabelsi admitted that his players’ morale was low ever since they received a red card during their 0-1 loss to Al Khor in November.
The match against Al Markhiya will be a good chance for the Peregrines to make a strong comeback. Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov, Wagner Ribeiro and Valentin Lazar lead their charge.
Trabelsi said: “We are trying hard to forget what happened last week (they were hammered 6-0 by Al Sadd) and working hard to improve by rectifying some mistakes. There are many areas for improvement. I know it is not going to be a smooth sailing against Al Markhiya. We will show our true form as we have made many positive changes to our game.
“We played at our true level in the first eight games and we reaped rewards for that. The decline started from the match against Al Khor when we had a red card. Since then, the players’ morale was low. In the next five games and went winless,” he added. Markhiya will go into the game with renewed vigour as they will be fielding new recruits from Brazil — striker Leonardo Henrique Santos de Souza and attacking midfielder Eric de Oliveira.
De Souza replaced Burkina Faso striker Alain Traore, while Oliveira came in place of Ghanaian forward Kwame Karikari, who moved to Al Arabi. However, The Oryxes will miss captain Bilal Mohammed, out of action for almost five weeks with a muscle injury. Al Sailiya, who lost 0-6 to Al Sadd, are on 20 points and Al Markhiya, who lost 0-1 to Qatar SC, have eight points. Al Sailiya had won 5-2 in the first phase.
Al Markhiya coach Yousef Adam said: “We made many mistakes in our last game against Qatar SC which we lost despite controlling the ball more than the opponents. We also missed many scoring opportunities. When we failed to score, they took advantage of an early goal.
“We deserved at least a point from the game. We are trying to resolve shortcomings and are ready to take on Al Sailiya. Our players know our situation. They are showing responsibility and commitment, but I want more efficiency from them on the pitch.”
Qatar SC take on Arabi
Meanwhile, Qatar SC would be the side that gained the most after last week’s action as their lone-goal victory over Markhiya helped them jump from rock bottom to ninth position.
The Kings, on 11 points, sport a new look in the second phase after beefing up the roster with three recruits — strikers Patrick Fabiano from Brazil and Osama Omri from Syria as well as Iranian attacking midfielder Sijad Mujtaba. They fielded all three in the last round and reaped rewards as Fabiano netted the winner.
Qatar SC coach Abdullah Mubarak said: “We have made good preparations for the game with Al Arabi and the players are all geared up for the show. We could have won the last game against Al Markhiya by a bigger margin, but we made many mistakes and missed scoring opportunities.
“I hope we put behind the shortcomings sooner rather than later and come up with an outstanding display against Al Arabi. That has given my players added confidence. In effect, we could collect some points from our last four matches.”
Al Arabi are just behind Qatar SC in the table with 10 points. They too underwent some changes in the ongoing transfer window by roping in defenders Hamad al-Harbi and Croatian Ivan Foster as well as Ghanaian striker Kwame Karikari from Markhiya.
Left-back Ali Aloub, signed from Al Kharaitiyat for one-and-a-half years, lends further solidity to The Dream Team, who ended the contract with Syrian striker Mardik Mardikian, who was hired at the beginning of this season. Al Arabi, who lost to leaders Al Duhail 0-1 in Week 13, had won the first-phase match 2-1. Al Arabi coach Luka Bonacic said: “We played the two games in the second phase differently and I believe we did a good job in both matches. We held Al Sailiya to a draw and then put up a gritty performance against leaders and only unbeaten team Al Duhail, going down by a solitary goal. My team is getting set.
“It will be tough for us against Qatar SC as they have some new players. We gave importance to tactical training in the last few days. Our problem is that the damage was done in the early stage of the competition.”